Trope Shark> What IS A Magical Negro?

Yes, I’m using that word. Why? I grew up with this:

It’s only in the past few months that suddenly “negro” was considered a no-no word up there with that other n-word I’m not going to use because I’m white and I know better. Surface viewing isn’t just for bad adaptations. It’s the word used in the title for a movie that was given the following trailer just before “negro” was turned into a no-no word and it’s the title of the trope that inspired the title. So yes, white boy’s using that word.

I’ve seen black people trashing this movie alongside white people. It’s like the movie version of What If Miles Morales Was Thor. However, the term “magical negro” is not new. Still stupid, but not new. It’s the actual name of a fiction trope, though this is one of those tropes that seems more surface than intention.

So what is a “magical negro” and does he actually need magical powers to be one? According to TV Tropes and Tropepedia (and I’m not sure who is plagiarizing who because their articles are near identical as of this writing) they don’t even have to necessarily be black.

In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a “normal” person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step (often clad in a clean, white suit) into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, almost always white) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character’s life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of Noble Savages, expect an Anvilicious Aesop about the failings of the protagonist’s society — which usually leads to the protagonist “Going Native”.

With such deep spiritual wisdom (and sometimes — though not always — actual supernatural powers), you might wonder why the Magical Negro doesn’t step up and save the day himself. This will never happen. So enlightened and selfless is he that he has no desire to gain glory for himself; he only wants to help those who need guidance…which just happens to mean those who are traditionally viewed by Hollywood as better suited for protagonist roles, not, say, his own oppressed people. In fact, the Magical Negro really seems to have no goal in life other than helping white people achieve their fullest potential; he may even be ditched or killed outright once he’s served that purpose. If he does express any selfish desires, it will only be in the context of helping the white protagonists realize their own racism and thereby become better people.

The term was created by director Spike Lee as a negative trope, but examples both sites gives (with in Tropepedia’s case includes a short section just for Morgan Freeman) includes Asian and Native American characters. Somehow nobody seems to have an issue with the black character who solves all the white man’s problems but do it in reverse and screams of “white savior nonsense” will ring loud. The thing is I’ve seen shows with more worldly black characters helping out other black characters. Fat Albert had a few. I’ve seen white characters who help white people, although usually they’re angels–as in literal angels from Heaven like Highway To Heaven or Touched By An Angel. Then you have those wise mentors on the mountain, which are sometimes the character you least expect.

My question is what sets a “magical negro” apart from any other wise mentor? TV Tropes even listed NICK FURY as a “magical negro”. Really? Did we watch the same movies? Ignoring that he was white in the original comics and was only made black in the movies because the Ultimate Universe drew him like Samuel L. Jackson and thus Marvel Studios saw potential star power, Fury brings the team of heroes together, and later disappears in disgrace. He’s just a badass SHIELD agent, not some wise mentor. Tropedia uses this as another example:

Something the Lord Made — A historical/film example, which seems to play with or subvert the trope. It tells the story of a white surgeon (Alan Rickman) aided in his cardiac research by a black assistant (Mos Def) who is clearly the greater genius of the two. However, against type, the black assistant is not shown as being happy having another take credit for his work, but realizes this is the only way for him to do what he is interested in rather than being a janitor. There is also an implication that despite his goodness and supposed liberalism, the white doctor was essentially a plagiarist taking advantage of the racist system. Based on the true story of Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock, whose relationship the Wikipedia summarizes as “complicated and contradictory”.

Emphasis mine, but does that mean Vivien Thomas was a real life “magical negro”, and not a guy who got ripped off because of the systems of the day? One source I used to see which was which suggested they were actually good friends and Blalock had to publish it because it wouldn’t be accepted from Thomas, who did become or was an official doctor at some point. Of course, this is a Hollywood movie so who knows how many liberties they took with history to tell a different narrative with real people? I just think, until recently, people just thought a worldly man you wouldn’t expect to be wise (which, yes, is also a bit racist thinking) became a mentor to another character. Just going through the movie examples on these sites the list seems forced more often than not. I think someone just wanted to make this a thing and it became a thing. It’s a dumb trope and a dumber movie. Sorry, but I’m not buying the “magical negro” thing.

Admittedly, though, that was kind of cool. Seriously, just file it under the wise old mentor trope and knock this nonsense off.